Replenishment of filling in automatic looms.



1 M. HOLLINS. BEPLENISHMBNTOF FILLING IN AUTOMATIC LOOMS. APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 18, 1908.

920,871 Q Patented May 4, 1909.

TH: NORRIS PITIRS col, WASHINOTGN, nc.

i e er DENIS MAOHELL HOLLINS, OF BLACKBURN, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPER COMPANY, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.-

BEPLE NISHMENT OF FILLING IN AUTOMATIC LOOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 4, 1909.

Application filed-September is, 1908. Serial No. 453,689.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DENIs MAOHELL HOL- LINs, a subject of King Edward VII of Great Britain, residing at Blackburn, in the'county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Appertaining to the Replenishment of Filling in Automatic Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic filling replenishing looms and particularly to the detection of the substantial exhaustion of filling in the shuttle.

The object of my improvements is to pro vide novel means whereby the operation of the filling replenishing mechanism will be delayed until a minimum amount of filling remains on the carrier or bobbin in the shuttle, this delay in effecting filling replenishment allowing most of the filling on the bobbin to be woven into the fabric and avoiding unnecessary waste.

According to my invention I employ in conjunction with a filling feeler of any ordinary suitable type, a filling carrier or bobbin having an elongated slot or opening formed centrally through the head of same, or elongated recesses or depressions formed or cut in each side of the bobbin head, the said slot or opening or recesses being formed in the direction of the length of the bobbin or carrier. Across the base or end of the bobbin head I form a groove or recess, and in the pockets on the disk for supporting the heads of the bobbins in the rotary battery or magazine in which the full bobbins or filling carriers are stored in readiness to be presented one by one in position to be transferred to the active shuttle on the replenishing mechanism beings actuated, I form orsecure centrally of said pockets, projections or guides over which the grooves in the ends of the bobbins are passed in inserting them into the magazine, to form guides therefor as they are discharged from the magazine and to hold them in a definite position in the magazine, the angular position of the said grooves with respect to the slot or recesses in the side of the bobbin head being suchthat when'the bobbin istransferred into the shuttle the slot or recesses will be in alinement with the filling feeler, such relative angular positions of the grooves and slots being determined by the amount of turning movement given to the bobbin after it leaves the magazine and is forced between the jaws in the shuttle, if not positively guided and held from turning; or if the bobbin is positively'prevented from turning until gripped by the jaws in the shuttle, the positions of the groove and slot or recesses would be approximately at right angles to each other. On the stand supporting the magazine and in line with the rib or guide in the pocket or bearing in which rests the head of the carrier or bobbin presented for transfershoe, is a rib or projection forming a continuation of the rib or guide in the pocket of the head carrying-disk which may be extended to to a position nar to the top of the shuttle when the lay is at the front center, the groove at the base of the bobbin head passing over said rib after leaving the magazine and the bobbin maintained in position or held from turning movement thereby from the moment it leaves the magazine until it enters the shuttle, the rib or projection being suitably tapered or beveled at one end to insure its entrance into the groove and the centering of the bobbin in the event of looseness of the parts or wear and tear allowing the magazine ferrer itself, a finger or projection or projections which will be adapted to engage in the groove in the end of the bobbin head or with any suitable part of the bobbin to hold same in a fixed position during its transference from the magazine until finally gripped by the jaws in the shuttle. V

The filling or weft is wound on the bobbin or carrier in the usual way and covers the elongated slot or recesses until nearly the I whole of the filling is wound off, the presence of a layer of filling over the slot or adjacent recess serving to prevent the operation of the filling replenishing mechanism. Immediately, however, the last portion of filling is sufliciently unwound from the bobbin to eX- pose the opening or recess therein or allow the feeler to pass between the windings of the yarn, the entrance of the point of the feeler into the recess or slot as the lay beats up, results in the filling replenishing mechanism being brought into operation and a full bobbin or carrier transferred into the shuttle and the exhausted bobbin or carrier discharged therefrom. V

The various novel features of my invention will be fully described in the subjoined specification and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

loo

In the aceom anying drawing :Figure 1 is asectional e evation taken through the rotary magazine or filling feeder and through the lay, showing so much of a weft replenishing loom as is essential to show the embodiment of my improvements; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the filling carrier showing the same held in fixed position in the magazine, a sectional fragment of the disk of same only being shown; Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the weft feeler in position on detection of practical exhaustion of weft in the active shuttle; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the butt end of a filling carrier and Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are elevations showing examples of the rings or ringed armor for the filling carrier butts or heads which I may employ.

Referring to the drwing, letter a represents the end disk of the rotary magazine in pockets a in which the butts or heads I) of the filling carriers 1) are seated, c the transferrer, d the lay and e the shuttle box thereon at the transferring end of the lay, all the said parts being as ordinary and forming no part of my present invention.

In the embodiment of my invention herein illustrated the head of the filling carrier Z), near to the butt end thereof, is provided with an elongated slot or opening b which extends centrally through the body of the bobbin or carrier from side to side and longitudinally in the direction of its length, or instead of the slot being formed through the head of the filling carrier, an elongated recess may be formed in each side of the bobbin head.

Across the base or end of the bobbin head is formed a groove or recess 6 and in each pocket a on the disk at is formed or secured a projection or rib a over which the grooves 12 in the ends of the bobbins or filling carriers are passed in inserting the latter into the magazine, these said pro'ections or ribs holding the bobbins in a de nite position in the magazine and forming guides therefor as they are discharged from the magazine, the angular position of the groove 6 with respect to the slot or recesses 5 being such that when the bobbin is transferred into the shuttle, the slot or recesses b will be in a erfectly horizontal plane and therefore in a lineinent with the weft feeler when the shuttle is picked to the other end of the loom, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The relative angular positions of the groove 1) and slot 6 is determined by the amount of turning movement given to the bobbin after it leaves the magazine and is engaged by the jaws in the shuttle.

On the stand supporting the magazine and in line with the rib a in the pocket in which rests the head of the carrier or bobbin presented for transference to the shuttle, I may provide a rib or projection f (shown in Fig. 1) forming a continuation of the rib or projeetion a the groove b passing over said rib after leaving the magazine and the bobbin being maintained in position or held from free turning movement until it enters the shuttle, the said rib or projection f being tapered or beveled at its upper end to insure its entrance into the groove 7)" in the butt of the bobbin and the centering of the bobbin in the event of loosenoss of the parts, or wear and tear allowing the magazine a little play. though in some instances it may be preferred.

To obtain a transfer of the bobbin so as positively to bring the slot 12' into a horizontal position in the shuttle, I provide on the head or engaging surface of the transferrer c a finger or projection c which is adapted to engage in a groove or recess formed in the bobbin head, or in a groove or recess 5/ formed partly in the bobbin head and partly by the opposing ends of the rings it which are secured on the bobbin so that the split endsof each ring shall be in alinemcnt with each other and form a longitudinal recess or its equivalent. At present it is customary to place the split rings 71. on the bobbin head with the ends of same staggered, but to utilize the said rings for the purpose of my invention, I place them as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 so as to provide engaging surfaces for the projection c on the transferrer to engage with. To prevent any turning or creeping movement of the rings, the. extremities of same are slightly downturned and pointed or roughened (as shown at Figs. 4 and 5) so as to penetrate the wood on application of pressure and thus secure the rings positively in position.

Instead of the rib c on the transferrer engaging with the opposite ends of the rings as explained, I can form the rings with a U or V shaped or like depression h therein, as shown at Fig. 6, into which the rib a will be adapted to enter and engage with the walls thereof in transferring the bobbin from the magazine into the shuttle.

The rings can be substituted by a metal shell having annular ribs or projections h thereon, as shown at Fig. 7, the rib on the transferrer engaging with the separated ends of the shell or with a longitudinal indent therein.

The elongated slot I) in the bobbin is employed for the sole and distinctive purpose of admitting the feeler to thereby put into action the weft replenishin mechanism when the maximum amount of weft has been unwound from the bobbin to leave thereon only such a length of weft as will suffice for the subsequent pick to be inserted in the shed, the length of weft left on the bobbin of course depending upon the width of the loom to which the improvements are ap lied.

The filling or weft wound on the bobbin or carrier in the usual way covers the elongated slot or recesses and prevents the entrance of the feeler i thereinto until nearly the whole It is not essential to use the rib f llHl of the filling is exhausted, the slackness or openness of the last windings of weft left on the bobbin, or the uncovering of a part of the slot, allowing the feeler as the lay beats up to pass into said slot whereupon the Weft replenishing mechanism is immediately called into action and on the shuttle arriving at the opposite end of the loom, a fresh carrier is transferred from the magazine to the shuttle and the spent carrier discharged. By this means the operation of the filling replenishing mechanism is delayed until the smallest necessary amount of filling is left on the bobbin or carrier and waste of filling thus reduced to a minimum. In addition to the advantages named, myv improvements onuntil removed from the disk, and a rocking able me to use bobbins having a tapered portion leading from the main barrel portion of the bobbin to the head thereof whereby the yarn can be wound thereon or built up in the usual way as on ordinary filling carriers.

The details of construction of my improvements may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a filling replenishing loom, a bobbin or filling carrier having an elongated slot in its body portion, a longitudinal groove in its head, and a recess in the end of the head, a disk to support the heads of a plurality of bobbins, means on the disk to enter the end recesses in the bobbin heads and guide and maintain the bobbins in a definite position transferrer having a bobbin-engaging projection parallel to the axis on which the transferrer rocks, said projection entering the longitudinal groove in the head of a bobbin during transfer of the latter, substantially as described.

2. In an automatic filling replenishin loom having a rotatable disk provided with pockets in which the heads of the filling carriers are seated, radial projections in the pockets, and a fixed stand on which the disk is mounted, in combination, a filling carrier having an elongated recess in the head thereof and a groove in the base of the head, said groove receiving a radial projection of the disk, a rib on the stand forming a continuation of the projection with which the leading filling carrier is engaged, and a transferrer to engage and remove the leading filler carrier from the disk and insert it in the shuttle, the rib on the stand preventing independent turning movement of the filling carrier at the time of transfer.

3. The combination of a bobbin or filling carrier having an elongated slot in the head thereof for the reception of the end of the filling feeler on substantial exhaustion of filling, means to guide the bobbin or carrier in its transference to the shuttle to bring the slot into correct alinement with the plane of the feeler, a plurality of rings on the head of the carrier, provided with longitudinally alined indentations a transferrer, anda projec tion on the transferrer to enter and engage the groove formed by such indentations, substantially as herein shown and described and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

DENIS MACHELL HOLLINS.

Witnesses:

ERNALD SIMrsoN MosELEY, JOHN WILLIAM THOMAS.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 920,871, granted May 4, 1909,-

upon the application of Dennis Machell Hollinsof Blackburn, England, for an improvement in Replenishment of Filling in Automatic Looms, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: In line 55, page 3. the word filler should. read filling; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office. A

Signed and sealed this 18th day of May, A. D., 1909.

[SEAL] 7 0. o. BILLINGS,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.- 

